Fear Not, Daughter of Zion

I saved this post especially for today - Palm Sunday.  Most of the time we would be at church, waving our palms.  For some that would be actual palm branches, for some it would the palms of our hands.  We celebrate the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  John 12:12-16 says, "On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.  And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,  Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt. These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him."

This is one of many prophecy that Jesus fulfilled.  Zechariah 9:9 says, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass."

Poor Man's Commentary by Robert Hawker says:
It is worthy remark, that the four Evangelists all notice this triumphal entrance of Christ into Jerusalem, five days before his death as if to testify the prophecy concerning it. (Isaiah 62:11 and Zechariah 9:9.) And it is worthy of still further remark, that none but Christ ever made such a public entry, and therefore the conclusion is undeniable. Behold! how distinguished from every other king, is Zion’s king. No trumpets, no gorgeous apparel, no courtly attendants, but as the Lord himself was meek and lowly, every accommodation corresponded to the humble appearance! Such was, and is, Jesus!

We are not gathering in our churches today, but we can still rejoice.  We can raise our hands in worship in our homes because our King came.  We have no need to fear, Jesus fulfilled every prophecy concerning Him.  I'm borrowing some notes that Les has used in our Adult Sunday school class.  This table shows the odds of one man fulfilling just one of the Old Testament prophecies:

Old Testament Prophecy	New Testament Fulfillment	Probability
Christ to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)	And Herod asked where Christ had been born ... they answered Bethlehem (Matt 2:4-6)	2.8 x 105 or 1 in 280,000
Forerunner of Christ (Malachi 3:1)	John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ (Mark 1:2-8)	1 x 103 or 1 in 1,000
Christ to enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey (Zech 9:9)	Christ enters Jerusalem riding on a donkey (Matt 21:4-11)	1 x 102 or 1 in 100
Christ to be betrayed by a friend (Psalm 41:9)	Judas betrayed Jesus (Luke 22:21)	1 x 103 or 1 in 1,000
Christ to be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zech 11:12)	Judas sold out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Matt 26:15)	1 x 103 or 1 in 1,000
30 pieces of silver casted down and used to buy a potter's field (Zech 11:13)	30 pieces of silver used to buy a potter's field (Matt 27:3-10)	1 x 105 or 1 in 100,000
Although innocent, Christ kept silent when on trial (Isaiah 53:7)	Jesus kept silent when questioned (Mark 14:60-61)	1 x 103 or 1 in 1,000
Christ crucified (Psalm 22:16)	Jesus was crucified (John 19:17, 18)	1 x 104 or 1 in 10,000

The odds of one man fulfilling ALL of the prophecies listed are

1 in 1 x 10²⁸

Or:
1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000  (I don't even know what that number is called!)

Or:
If you covered the state of California in quarters over 5 feet deep and painted just ONE of them red.  The odds of finding that quarter on your first try are the same as Jesus fulfilling all these prophecies.

Add the virgin birth, and the odds go from improbable to truly impossible.

Fear not!  He did it!  Rejoice!  He did it!  We don't have to be in a church house to celebrate our King.  He came, He died, He was buried, and He rose again.  Fear not!

Introducing the Miraculous

Pastor McGriffin talked to the church last night about a piece of property that is for sale less than half a mile from our current location.  The church we use now is used by four other groups and the owners have become more and more difficult to work with.  There are two reasons why the churches of Hawaii need to have property:

#1 - The church body needs to have a sense of ownership, without it you don't give 100%.

#2 - The community needs to know we are permanent.  The Apostolic church has been in the islands since 1954 (five years before Hawaii became a state) and there have only been two pieces of property purchased in all that time.  Our future is directly connected to having a home base.  Temporary arrangements limit growth potential.

Pastor McGriffin is believing that this is the time.  Why not now?  Why not us?  It's time!

The property for sale is almost 3 acres with 3 major structures.  All the equipment and furniture is included in the sale.  It is ready to have church tomorrow and could start a daycare in a month.  It is all the basics that Pastor McGriffin has dreamed about in one package.

The asking price: $3.6 Million.  Now, put your teeth back in your mouth!  Land goes for about $1 million an acre here. In the natural it seems we are wasting our time.  But the spiritual side says, "If I don't try, God can't work on our behalf."  We've got to disconnect from all the reasons why not.

More details:
Sanctuary seats 125, could add more seating to fit 150. 
No air conditioning at this time, but would definitely add!
Sunday school/daycare building with 6 classrooms
Offices
Play area
Multipurpose room
Commercial Kitchen
Pastoral Living Quarters
One Bedroom Studio Apartment
Lots of Parking
There is also room to build!

We know that God is able!  He is able to EXCEED our finite comprehension (Ephesians 3:20.)

After service, most of us took the journey to the property site and had a time of prayer.  We walked around the building and it just felt right! Sis. McGriffin told me that the land is zoned for a church only, so it is not available for a developer to come in and build.  It's always going to be a church, why not a truth preaching church?!

Of course this was still on my mind when I got up this morning.  I was thinking and praying about it when I started my Bible reading.  The plan is on my iPad and it defaults to the New Living Translation.  I usually switch to KJV, but didn't this morning.  Ezekiel 12:22-23 jumped out at me:

“Son of man, you’ve heard that proverb they quote in Israel: ‘Time passes, and prophecies come to nothing.’ Tell the people, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will put an end to this proverb, and you will soon stop quoting it.’ Now give them this new proverb to replace the old one: ‘The time has come for every prophecy to be fulfilled!’

I have heard Pastor McGriffin say more than once that it has been prophesied that God would provide land and buildings.   It is time for every prophecy to be fulfilled!

Please pray with us that God, Who IS Able, will open the doors to the finances we need.

Prophecy Fulfilled

Long before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, God had a plan. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God had a plan. The redemption of mankind was always in God's plan. Men of old prophesied, not fulling knowing the lengths that God would go to, but He always had a plan.

Regarding His betrayal and the price of 30 pieces of silver:

Psalm 41:9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

Fulfilled in Luke 24:47-48 And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?

Zechariah 11:12-13 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.

Fulfilled in Matthew 26:15 And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.

Scorned and mocked:

Psalm 22:7-8 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

Fulfilled in Luke 23:35 And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.

Given gall and vinegar:

Psalm 69:21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Fulfilled in Matthew 27:34 They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.

Not a bone would be broken:

Psalm 34:20 He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.

Fulfilled in John 19, 32-33, 36 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:
For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.

Isaiah paints quite a picture in chapter 53:

1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.


Isaiah 61
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified

Luke 4
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

What an amazing plan!